Adventurers fall into icy waters in Banff National Park

The warmer than normal weather has prompted warnings to stay away from creeks, rivers and lakes after two close calls — including a man who survived going over Bow Falls — in Banff National Park.

“A lot of the creeks are a lot more open than they normally are this time of year,” said Aaron Beardmore, a visitor safety specialist with Parks Canada. “People should expect that the normal river and creek crossings that are frozen this time of year aren’t this year.

“They need to take that into consideration when they are backcountry skiing or snowshoeing.”

The warning from Banff National Park comes after two incidents involving people who fell into icy water.

In the first case, a 26-year-old man is lucky to be alive after he walked down to Bow Falls from Surprise Corner on Tunnel Mountain Drive in the Banff townsite last Thursday.

“He scrambled down to Bow Falls, walked out onto the ice,” said Beardmore. “It’s unknown whether he actually slipped and fell into an opening or broke through the ice.

“Nonetheless, he went into the water at the top of the falls, went under the ice and travelled down the waterfall … and resurfaced in a pool below.”

Several bystanders witnessed the incident and helped the man out of the Bow River.

“They got him onto the shore virtually unscathed,” said Beardmore, noting the man would have travelled about 40 to 50 metres under the ice. “That would have been quite a journey.”

The man was warmed up in an ambulance, but he didn’t require transport to hospital.

Beardmore said he’s lucky because the rock underneath the waterfall is quite jagged.

“It’s very surprising to think he didn’t get hung up under there somehow,” he said. “If he had gotten hung up, no matter what the circumstance, it would have been a very lengthy extrication process — probably in the vicinity of days, because it’s hazardous.”

In a second incident, which happened Friday, a group of three skiers were heading along the Pipestone River to a backcountry cabin.

“One of the members fell into the Pipestone River, and one of the other two group members had to jump in to help,” he said, noting the pair was uninjured but wet and cold.

They called for an evacuation. However, it was too dark to fly the helicopter into the area, so the group built a fire and made a makeshift shelter.

“They spent the night out,” said Beardmore. “At first light, Parks Canada safety staff flew in and evacuated them by helicopter.

“They were also fine — just cold, wet and tired.”

In both cases, it appears the people slipped into the ice through an opening rather than breaking through it.

“People should be mindful, the creeks are open,” said Beardmore, noting there’s also a lot of open water on the mountain lakes. “They are just slower to freeze over than usual.”

Similar concerns are being raised in Calgary, although there haven’t been any reports of people falling into open water.

“There’s no way to predict the thickness of ice,” said Carol Henke, a public information officer with the Calgary Fire Department. “Our advice is to stay off all waterways with moving water.”

Due to the current warm spell, Henke said there’s a good chance the lakes also aren’t frozen.

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